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But inaction may not be such a bad thing for House Republicans. Going to conference to match the House and Senate-passed budgets — or making any movement on the budget right now — could open up a schism in the caucus on spending that for months leadership has managed to keep mostly at bay.

Some members see this as an opportunity to make a deal that makes permanent real budget cuts. There’s a contingent that either doesn’t want to make a deal with Senate Democrats or would prefer to wait until the debt ceiling is closer and they presumably have more leverage. And some would just toss the House-passed plan and start over.

Republicans agree on the talking points: The Senate budget doesn’t come into balance in 10 years; it doesn’t address out of control spending; and the chasm between the two proposals is too great to bridge.

“It is regular order for the House and Senate budget chairs to reach agreement on a framework before beginning a formal conference. That is obviously tough when the Senate passed a budget that includes a trillion-dollar tax hike and still never ever balances — but we’ll keep working,” Michael Steel, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, wrote in an email when asked to comment on the progress of the budget and disagreement within the caucus.

Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) would just chuck out the whole budget process.

“We have to have a real budget that recognizes that we’re broke as a nation; we’re headed to an economic collapse and deal with it in an appropriate way,” Broun said. “I don’t think a conference would be helpful at all because neither budget faces the reality of our dire economic condition we face as a nation.”

He sees no plan coming from leadership to deal with the budget moving forward.

“It’s absolutely frustrating for me,” Broun said.

Senate Republicans such as Mike Lee of Utah or Ted Cruz of Texas have helped hold up a conference by insisting that parties agree not to use a budget deal to raise the debt ceiling, and that’s something House conservatives agree with.

“Leadership got what they wanted, and usually that ends up in a conference committee,” said Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.). “It still [has] to do with the debt ceiling, and with or without a conference, that’s where the battle will be.”

Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) also wants to see the debt ceiling handled first, before any budget talks.

“I share the same concern that Ted Cruz has; I’m probably not as vocal and fired up as he is,” Mulvaney said. “We need to have a debt ceiling debate, discussion and vote. We don’t need to use smoke and mirrors buried in the budget process to bypass that process.”

Another potential problem for the House GOP: If the budget spent more than 20 days languishing in conference, it would give any member the chance to file “motions to instruct,” a procedural move that can be used to force uncomfortable political votes. Most of the public fretting from Republicans involves Democrats having the ability to take over the floor, but it would also open up an opportunity for the most conservative members in the House to offer their amendments.